diff --git a/tree-walk.c b/tree-walk.c
index 8f5090862b..c1f27086a9 100644
--- a/tree-walk.c
+++ b/tree-walk.c
@@ -26,8 +26,9 @@ static int decode_tree_entry(struct tree_desc *desc, const char *buf, unsigned l
 {
 	const char *path;
 	unsigned int mode, len;
+	const unsigned hashsz = the_hash_algo->rawsz;
 
-	if (size < 23 || buf[size - 21]) {
+	if (size < hashsz + 3 || buf[size - (hashsz + 1)]) {
 		strbuf_addstr(err, _("too-short tree object"));
 		return -1;
 	}